I am a professional freelance writer, age 47. I live in Burntwood, Staffs, with my partner, Jayne, w...
I am a professional freelance writer, age 47. I live in Burntwood, Staffs, with my partner, Jayne, who is an IT Support Analyst for a large construction company. We have two cats called Ronnie and Reggie.
Member since:26.07.2000
Reviews:15
Members who trust:3
I must start by admitting I’m a big Dean Koontz fan. ‘From the Corner of His Eye’ is another compelling page-turner, full of vivid and memorable characters and a particularly odious villain (be prepared for a major shock as early as the third chapter). It features some of Dean's usual hobby-horses, including his aversion to 'pop psychologists’, his fascination regarding the nature of evil, and his obsession with eyesight and blindness.
For anyone who hasn’t tried Dean Koontz till now, I would say put aside any preconceptions you may have about ‘horror writers’ (not helped, admittedly, by the often lurid covers used for his earlier novels). Dean Koontz started out as a science fiction writer, then switched to horror, but nowadays he writes broad-canvass thrillers, often with an element of the supernatural or science fiction. Like Stephen King, he is adept at creating believable, multi-faceted characters, but somehow his work has a greater warmth to it, a belief in the power of the human spirit to triumph over adversity. (Though that’s not to say that ‘From the Corner of His Eye’ and his other books don’t include scenes which some readers might find disturbing.)
The central characters in ‘From the Corner of His Eye’ are Agnes Lampion and her son, Batholomew. A freak accident – or is it fate? – deprives Agnes of her husband and Barty of his father, and puts them both on a collision course with the book’s psychopathic villain. It would be wrong to give away too much of the plot, but one major theme the book explores is parallel universes: the idea that there is an infinity of other worlds parallel to our own where events have taken a slightly different turn, and a few people might be able to move from one such universe to another. It’s hardly a new idea, and yet Koontz gives it a freshness and scientific plausibility.
Is ‘From the Corner of His Eye’ Koontz’s best book to date? I wouldn’t go that far. To my mind his best are the ‘Moonlight Bay’ novels, ‘Seize the Night’ and ‘Fear Nothing’. The quality of writing in these is mesmerising, and to anyone who hasn’t read them I would say that if you like ‘From the Corner of His Eye’, there’s every chance you’ll enjoy these two even more. ‘From the Corner of his Eye’ is an out-and-out action thriller and an excellent example of its type, but ‘Seize the Night’ and ‘Fear Nothing’, although slower-moving, perhaps resonate a little longer in the memory.
The paperback version of ‘From the Corner of His Eye’ is currently available from Tesco’s for the unlikely (but great value) price of £3.84. I’ve also seen it on sale at a bargain price at my local Safeway. If you’re looking for some holiday reading, slip a copy in your suitcase, but be warned that once you start you’ll find it very hard indeed to put down!
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Thanks for the kind comments. I should perhaps have added that if you read the other Koontz books I mentioned, start with Fear Nothing and follow this with Seize the Night. A third book will complete the Moonlight Bay trilogy, but is not yet out as far as I'm aware.
Isobel_Princess 12.08.2001 19:14
Sounds good! Excellent opinion. love from Isobel
LICARUS 12.08.2001 18:53
I am also a fan of Koontz - this sounds a great read. Thanks Emm
Horrormeister Koontz looks heavenward for inspiration in his newest suspense thriller,From ... more
the Corner of His Eye, which is chock-full of signs, portents, angels and one somewhat second-rate devil, a murky and under characterised guy named Junior Cain w...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Horrormeister Koontz looks heavenward for inspiration in his newest suspense thriller, ... more
From the Corner of His Eye, which is chock-full of signs, portents, angels and one somewhat second-rate devil, a murky and under characterised guy named Junior Cain ...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Horrormeister Koontz looks heavenward for inspiration in his newest suspense thriller,From ... more
the Corner of His Eye, which is chock-full of signs, portents, angels and one somewhat second-rate devil, a murky and under characterised guy named Junior Cain w...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Horrormeister Koontz looks heavenward for inspiration in his newest suspense thriller, ... more
From the Corner of His Eye, which is chock-full of signs, portents, angels and one somewhat second-rate devil, a murky and under characterised guy named Junior Cain ...
Postage & Packaging: £2.75 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Aug 12th, 2001
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